The five-story plus basement, Renaissance Revival style building was originally built in 1904 as the headquarters of J. A. Folger & Company, and remained the main offices of the company until 1963 when Folgers Coffee was purchased by Procter & Gamble. As described by its NRHP designation, it is, “unusual and noteworthy in that the building survived both of the major San Francisco earthquakes in 1906 and 1989.” One reason for this is that it was, “constructed on wooden pilings that were driven into San Francisco Bay fill to a depth of about forty feet, with a steam driven pile driver.”

On August 2, 2011, The Folger Building was purchased by the University of San Francisco, marking a return to the university’s downtown roots.[2] It has no LEED certification, as is typical of buildings from its time, and has 83,500 square feet of rentable office space.[3]